Levin raises straw man in attack on Media Matters

During the November 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Mark Levin discussed columnist Douglas Turner's November 10 Buffalo News column, in which Turner wrote that "[President-elect Barack] Obama was compared to Hitler on the 'Mark Levin Show' " shortly before the election. In response to Turner's column, Levin said: "[Turner] has written, among other things, that I compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. That is a flat-out lie. And he picked that lie up from Media Matters. I never called Barack Obama Hitler, and I never would, because he's not." Levin added: "He's a socialist, he's a Marxist, but he's not Hitler. And for somebody to put those words in my mouth, and to think they're going to get away with it, they're wrong." In fact, neither Turner nor Media Matters for America claimed that Levin had "called Barack Obama Hitler."

Media Matters did, however, list Levin among a group of conservative media figures who compared Obama to Hitler or the Nazis. In an October 31 item titled "In the days before the election, media figures have repeatedly compared Obama to Hitler," Media Matters wrote:

Since October 16, several media figures -- including author Jerome Corsi, Fox News contributor Ann Coulter, radio hosts Mark Levin and Bill Cunningham, author Hilmar von Campe, and Townhall.com columnist Laura Hollis -- have compared Sen. Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis.

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On the October 29 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Mark Levin Show, Levin asserted that Obama is "really into these big German-like events that he creates in this country, isn't he? Have you noticed that?" Curtis Sliwa, WABC radio host and CEO and founder of the community activist organization Guardian Angels, responded: "I am telling you, and he comes out and it's almost as if the crowd stands in unison, and I'm saying to myself, 'Oh my God, the Olympic Stadium, Berlin, 1938,' " to which Levin replied: "Yeah, we've seen this. It's scary." Sliwa then asserted: "And the only thing missing is he's not standing up in an open car."

Media Matters also provided audio and the following transcript from the October 29 broadcast of The Mark Levin Show:

LEVIN: Let me ask you something. By the way, my buddy Curtis Sliwa on WABC in the mornings and also being syndicated throughout the country. Curtis Sliwa, you know, since Barack Obama made a comparison, I will make less of a vicious comparison, but -- I'm getting feedback in my ears, boys -- but, he's really into these big German-like events that he creates in this country, isn't he?

SLIWA: Oh --

LEVIN: Have you noticed that?

SLIWA: I am telling you -- and he comes out and it's almost as if the crowd stands in unison, and I'm saying to myself, "Oh my God, the Olympic Stadium, Berlin, 1938."

LEVIN: Yeah, we've seen this.

SLIWA: Yes.

LEVIN: It's scary.

SLIWA: And the only thing missing is he's not standing up in an open car. He's basically trotting out, you know, on the tarmac that leads right to the main stage. But he -- he's loving every second of it. He wants love from the audience. And they give it to him.

LEVIN: Well, he's trying to create the impression that he's bigger than life, that he is the messiah, that he's already our leader, and that this election is just sort of an administrative step to the inevitable.

During the November 13 broadcast of his show, Levin, while again discussing Turner's column, said of his October 29 comments, "I never compared Obama to Hitler, because he's not." Levin added: "Those crowds, I've said, have looked pretty scary. They reminded me of Germany and so forth. These events -- the drones who will almost walk off a cliff for the guy. But that's quite different, and they know it."

Also during his November 13 show, Levin aired an audio clip of remarks Obama made during a January 18, 2001, WBEZ Chicago Public Radio interview:

There's a lot of change going on outside of the court that, you know, the judges have to essentially take judicial notice of. I mean, you've got World War II. You've got the doctrines of Nazism that we are fighting against that start looking uncomfortably similar to what's going on back here at home.

Levin then asserted that Media Matters had not "reported on Barack Obama comparing our country to Nazi Germany," and stated, "[Y]ou will not see Media Matters report on Barack Obama's comment comparing America of World War II to the doctrines of Nazism, nowhere on their website." In fact, Media Matters noted the comments by Obama, to which Levin was referring, in an item documenting that on the October 28 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Sean Hannity twice aired a cropped version of Obama's remarks, while omitting Obama's next sentence, in which Obama made clear that he was not comparing modern-day America to the doctrines of Nazism and that he was referring to the racial discrimination faced by African-American soldiers when they came home after fighting Nazi Germany during World War II.

From the November 12 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Mark Levin Show:

LEVIN: Anyway, there's a newspaper called The Buffalo News. Rich, remind me of that columnist's name when you can look that up, will you? And what this guy does, because he hates free speech, speech he disagrees with, this columnist -- whose name I'll give you in a second -- is he -- he acts on behalf of the left in this country. And what they want to do is demonize conservatives on talk radio, including me. That we should be so horrified by these people -- so disgusted by who they are -- and their language and they're so vile, that in the nation's best interest we need to shut them the hell up. Right?

There's one of these guys named Douglas Turner, who is a columnist for the so-called Buffalo News newspaper. And he has written, among other things, that I compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. That is a flat-out lie. And he picked that lie up from Media Matters. I never called Barack Obama Hitler, and I never would, because he's not. He's a socialist, he's a Marxist, but he's not Hitler. And for somebody to put those words in my mouth, and to think they're going to get away with it, they're wrong.

See, I'm not only a talk show host, but I'm a lawyer during the day. A big-time lawyer, you might say. Now I've told The Buffalo News and this little runt that they either retract that statement or correct it, or I'm going to take steps to deal with it -- and I'm not kidding. We don't have to sit back and take this stuff. We don't have to roll over. My words speak for themselves. Millions of people hear them, they're on my website. You can go back and listen to the audio of October 29, you can transcribe it, and, so, that's a good thing. So it's all out there and people can draw their own conclusions. It's almost as if they want me to make that statement. Not because they're horrified by a statement like that -- had I made it, which I didn't. But because they want to use it in order to shut down free speech in this country. It's a very sick mentality.

So they have to create a straw man; they have to concoct arguments to attack free speech that they disagree with. This is another very sad turn in this nation -- very, very sad. Some people, free speech is fine; other people, not so fine. And then they hide behind the idea of "equal time," which they know would destroy most radio stations and programs, because my affiliates respond to the audience.

From the November 13 edition of The Mark Levin Show:

OBAMA [audio clip]: There's a lot of change going on outside of the court that, you know, the judges have to essentially take judicial notice of. I mean, you've got World War II. You've got the doctrines of Nazism that we are fighting against that start looking uncomfortably similar to what's going on back here at home.

LEVIN: Now, ladies and gentlemen, who's comparing what to Nazism? There we have President-elect Barack Milhous Obama, a few years ago, comparing America during World War II to the doctrines of Nazism. Nobody's ever asked him what he means by that, and my guess is nobody ever will. But columnist Douglas Turner has never reported on this, he's never written about it. Columnist Douglas Turner apparently doesn't find this to be vile. Neither does The Buffalo News, a so-called newspaper. They haven't reported on Obama comparing America of World War II to the doctrines of Nazism. Now, why is that? And because they haven't reported on it, should we shut down The Buffalo News? Should we get rid of this lame-brain columnist? I ask you.

And then there's Media Matters, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. That's what they tell the Internal Revenue Code. Has Media Matters reported on Barack Obama comparing our country to Nazi Germany? No, they haven't. Do you want to know why? Because this is a criminal enterprise, and by that I mean it is a fraudulent enterprise that should not have a tax-exempt charitable status. Its employees are left-wing hacks who have either worked for Democrats or will. They are heavily funded by Democrats. And so you will not see Media Matters report on Barack Obama's comment comparing America of World War II to the doctrines of Nazism, nowhere on their website. And so what the Internal Revenue Service needs to do is pull their tax-exempt ticket. They shouldn't be using tax-exempt dollars to promote political causes. That is illegal. That's a violation of their tax status.

And whomever signs their tax returns and submits them to the Internal Revenue Service is committing perjury, in my opinion, because they know that they are a partisan political enterprise. And the Internal Revenue Service needs to send a few of its agents over there and interview these people and get a hold of their emails and get a hold of their phone logs and interview them about their associations with the DNC, the House and Senate counterparts, the Obama campaign, and the Clinton campaign. Just for transparency purposes. Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this.

But I'm appalled that Barack Obama at any time in his life would compare America of World War II to the doctrines of Nazism. I find that vile, absolutely vile. But Douglas Turner, so-called columnist for the so-called Buffalo News, apparently does not. There, Obama actually compares America to Nazism, and somehow Douglas Turner misses it. Somehow The Buffalo News misses it. Now, I've warned Turner and The Buffalo News that they owe me either a retraction or a correction, because I never compared Obama to Hitler, because he's not. I've never compared him to Mao or Stalin, either. Those crowds, I've said, have looked pretty scary. They reminded me of Germany and so forth. These events -- the drones who will almost walk off a cliff for the guy. But that's quite different, and they know it. I'm waiting Turner, and I'm waiting Buffalo News, and I'm not going to wait forever.

Meanwhile, Media Matters for America is a tax-exempt nonprofit, nonpartisan group, so it says, under penalty of perjury. You as a citizen are free to write to the Internal Revenue Service and ask them to conduct an investigation of Media Matters. And if I'm of the mind, I will pursue this with you further, giving out addresses and so forth. Right now, I got more important things to do. But we will fight back on this program. We're not gonna roll over for the -- for the thought police, for the anti-free speech types. We're not gonna let them just push through the censorship doctrine or anything else they try to do through the back door. We're gonna fight them, we're gonna name names. We're gonna demand legal action and the enforcement of the law against tax-exempt groups that use, in essence, taxpayers' money to promote vile politics of the sort that Media Matters does.

We will keep on MarkLevinShow.com, on our website, that audio that you just heard to remind you that it was Obama who brought up Nazism, and it was Obama who compared America of World War II -- America of World War II, that defeated Nazism, that ended the genocide, that opened those camps -- he's the one that compared America of World War II to the doctrines of Nazism, and has never been asked to explain it. The Buffalo News has never reported it. And this doofus Douglas Turner has never even acknowledged it.

Sorry, I needed to clean up some administrative work here.